Associating sounds from other unrelated kanji feels like it would be just as hard to remember the other kanji on top of the one I’m actually trying to remember. And don’t think I’ve come across a lot of those words yet either
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For the kun’yomi reading of 音, (おと), the mnemonic is
Did you hear that sound? It’s barely audible (おと). Go ahead and say the word “audible” with the pronunciation of おと to help you to remember this.
Wh…? Remembering to say audible as otoble is just remembering the reading of おと.
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Yeah its been so long since I learned them that I can’t even remember which came first haha.
Yeah I think sometimes I forget to take a step back and look at the differing radicals. I think your idea could possibly work though I’m really trying to think if I can improve on it but I’ve got nothing. My mind keeps wandering to the fact that “win” and “lose” feels like direct opposites and it’s just a straight forward game whereas “win” and “failure” isn’t as simple opposites so maybe has the more complex meaning.
Ah yeah that word pair gets me a little too but not too badly. I thought there was more difference in the meanings of 署 and 官 but apparently they’re both government so I don’t have much advice.
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I watched this anime where the main character challenges this guy to a 勝負 and he keeps asking for a rematch because he keeps losing…so I heard the word a lot.
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Yeah, it’s a really bad mnemonic that basically tells you to use the rendaku reading (おど) to remember the original おと.
Perhaps something like automatic would help?
You stand in the sun on the sidewalk hearing the noise of the automatic おと door of the conbini behind you going on and on and on.
Not ideal but better than audio.
When I checked it out after you wrote about it and saw the first one was burned it made me wonder if I would have read it correctly both meaning and reading if I saw it, not so sure, heck, pretty sure I wouldn’t, but then who knows, context and all that.
The words and kanji I mix up are usually ones that I didn’t pay enough attention to the first one I’ve learned and the second one that comes along just exposes the the truth about the level of engagement I had with the first one.
If the first kanji or word doesn’t have an extremely similar kanji or word the general concept is enough, but when the differences are so minute between two concepts (visual wise or meaning wise) and I didn’t go into detail with the first one, high leech probability.
Yeah, that’s why I ignore the government meaning in the policeman one and look at the bear radical in order to associate it with the person (like yogi bear, and yes I know he’s a park ranger) instead of the institute. It took me quite awhile to zero in on what makes me fail this.
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Yeah, actually I felt those Kanji look similar, even if they have different components. Making the mistake of similarity, to put another way.
Otherwise, via listening, 勝負 is difficult to miss, even if the memory of Kanji form doesn’t retain.
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In conjunction with the other reply on that message with the person always wanting rematches because they lose a lot, why not remember match( 勝負) by the “bu” part as in “booooooo you lost the match again” or something like that.
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Yeah it’s a bad mnemonic, though sometimes once like that weirdly work. But if it’s not working for you, 2tea gave an alternative, but I’ve just thought of one myself too:
What sound do people make when they stand on the sun? “Oh, toes!” (おと) because their toes are getting very hot from standing on such a hot thing.
Reminds me of standing on a beach when it’s so hot you can barely keep your feet down on the sand, but the rest of your body isn’t getting as hot as that, it’s just the sand is a much higher temperature.
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Yeah I think sometimes my reviews of two similar words are far apart but I don’t distinguish between them enough when I’m learning them, and end up having similar concepts come to mind when I do the reviews, but eventually they blur and then I start mixing them up and get them wrong, and they end up back in apprentice together coming at me in reviews at the same time, and if I’m not paying enough attention to the differences, then I’ll just keep mixing them up for ages.
Also oh wait, I guess I was looking in the wrong place before when I said 官 and 署 were both government, because I just checked again, since I thought that was weird. They’re not the same. 官 is government, but 署 is government office. I definitely use the fact that the 署 one is about an office, indicating that it’s a station.
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Yeah that could work actually, thanks
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo can’t believe I immeadiately failed
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I too keep confusing 勝敗 with 勝負 – first kanji is the same and the second kanji have related meanings 
Another such pair is 不潔 and 不純
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I see 純 as chemical purity, like 純度, though 純粋 and 単純 are probably much more common.
Relatively recently, I saw フケツ, though I remembered 潔い long before that.
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don’t forget 不浄
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Yeah I think I’ve finally got them not mixed up when thinking that 勝負 is someone booing (from the ぶ) because you lost the match. I did pass my last review so there is hope.
I haven’t come across the other pair yet though.
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The mnemonic for 済ます (to finish something) does not resonate with me at all.
This is to finish something or to settle something, because this is when you’re doing the coming to an end action. You can remember this because you’re coming in to finish the score uno mas (ます) time. This is the last time.
I don’t know Spanish, I did look up what uno mas means but it’s just not going to stick because it’s just not something I’ve heard before and I’m not going to associate it. Even if I did, the mnemonic still feels lacking when trying to associate it with “finish”. Anyone got any alternative ideas?
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